Alex Karaban Recruitment | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Alex Karaban Recruitment

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You can get a great education anywhere.
Even garbage schools provide a solid education if one wishes to receive it. My undergrad was ECSU / Wesleyan. I needed ECSU to learn how to write a proper paper, and had several phenomenal professors there. At Wesleyan, there was an entirely different standard, and I had to drop track and field. But, I had a better grounding in historical facts from ECSU than Wesleyan.
 
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A fifth-grader, who is one of my favorite students, told me on Thursday "if I don't go to Harvard, my parents will see it as a failure."

Hearing this, my response to the class was "no offense to your parents, but they are completely wrong, and you can tell them I said that."
First, glad there are parents of D1 basketball recruits that really care about education. AK is in good hands.

Second, Harvard is nothing but a billion dollar hedge fund with a school attached to it as its fund raising and marketing arm.

About 1/3 of kids that get into schools like Harvard got in would never got in just based on their academics or credentials. They got in because they were legacies, their parents made huge donations, or they played some sports no one cares about except for people that go to country clubs etc. Many of these kids become successful in life because their rich parents already paved the way for them in life before they were born.

Is this fair? No, but it is the way how this country and the system operate. AK made the right decision because ultimately basketball still give him the best chance to succeed in life. There aren't too many programs like UConn when it comes to basketball.
 
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All of this being said about basketball and ivy league schools and whatever else, do any of you know exactly what curriculum AK is studying? Are we talking tiddly winks, basket weaving, nuclear science, astrophysics? knowing this would maybe be more indicative to understanding why mama k allowed her son to enroll in UCONN.
 
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All of this being said about basketball and ivy league schools and whatever else, do any of you know exactly what curriculum AK is studying? Are we talking tiddly winks, basket weaving, nuclear science, astrophysics? knowing this would maybe be more indicative to understanding why mama k allowed her son to enroll in UCONN.
In the article previously linked in this thread

Karaban is studying computer science, sports management and statistics.
 

FfldCntyFan

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In the article previously linked in this thread

Karaban is studying computer science, sports management and statistics.
Yes. He's a triple major (wow).

He claims that eventually he wants to work in an NBA front office (while left unsaid, after a playing career) and the educational background could only help.

I'm not sure what this young man's short term plans are but I'm very confident he'll have a great future.
 

Hunt for 7

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It sometime hard to remember that these guys are closer to being kids than adults. I watched the segment on him getting ice cream at the Dairy Bar and you can tell he is still a kid a heart. But with a plan. I give his parents all the credit in the world. I don’t eat black raspberry ice cream but all I drink is the black raspberry sparkling ICE water.
 

crazyUCfan23

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Agree. I was an English major and my professors were Samuel Pickering, Wally Lamb, Ann Charters, Gina Barreca... the list goes on. I put that up against any top school.
I was also an English major. Bruce Cohen was probably my favorite professor.
 

HuskyHawk

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Ivy league education (networking) matters much more for regular students than a major D1 basketball player. UConn has business leaders all over the place. If Karaban - or any of our players - decided that they wanted a job on Wall Street or wherever all the Ivy League kids end up, they would get one. Our alumni and mega donors would make sure of that.
It's underrated, but the experience of it is really quite valuable. He's there in front of a microphone answering questions live on TV. He has to perform in front of huge crowds. He's plenty smart, but what you learn in any classroom doesn't compare with what he's learning now (and he's in the classroom anyway). The poise under pressure, composure will prepare him well.

You're right about alumni/networking from the athletics side too. I went to Law school with a guy on the 1988 Kansas Championship Team. He was very sought after by law firms who knew their clients would be thrilled to be working with him.
 

StllH8L8ner

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AK is a guy who is going to be good at whatever he wants to do after his basketball career is over.
 

nomar

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Here's the story about it. I ran into someone in town yesterday whose son is good friends with Karaban. He said Alex told him that ultimately he picked UConn because he loved Hurley. Said he is, "Nuts, but in a good way." Lol

But the AK that would eventually help UConn to a national championship needed an OK from OK — his mother, Olga Karaban — before making a commitment to coach Dan Hurley and the Huskies in the summer of 2021. Alex loved his visit to the Storrs campus and was sold, almost immediately. Olga Karaban was skeptical, though, having learned all about basketball from the Huskies’ staff but next to nothing about the education her son might receive.

“We saw all the facilities, talked to coaches, went to eat, came home,” Olga said in August, sitting on a couch in the family’s living room next to Alexei. “Alex was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I feel like this is what I want. It felt right when I stepped on the court.’ I'm sitting there, just quiet. He was like, ‘This is great!’ And I'm not saying anything. He said, ‘What do you think?' I said, ‘Everything is great but I'm not impressed with academics because I didn't hear anything about it.’”

Karaban called Hurley and said, “My mom’s not happy.”

What followed was a furious final recruiting phase for which Hurley brought an entire team together. It wasn’t a basketball team. Hurley asked athletic director David Benedict for help coordinating, and UConn sent a car service back to Northborough to pick up the Karabans for a return visit a week later.

Radenka Maric — today UConn president and then the university’s vice president for research, innovation, and entrepreneurship — was among the lead presenters. Engineering professors were gathered. Curriculums and potential career paths were discussed. UConn flexed every fiber of every academic muscle that the university’s rising national reputation is built on.

“It was the worst for Alex because we had to go through all the academic buildings,” Olga said. “We went to the engineering center, and they were showing crazy stuff. It was actually interesting, at least for me. For you, too, right?”



Alternate access:

How UConn became home for men's basketball's budding star Alex Karaban: 'He's very happy'


@Chief00 -- For once, Glenn Miller's coursebook would have helped!
 

nomar

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There are certain industries where the top tier college and/or graduate school you attend will open doors that you'd have to forcibly push your way through with an extremely high GPA from a lesser known/regarded school. But if you are a star D1 athlete, those doors are going to be much wider open than they will be for some random Ivy League graduate.

Long story short: If you're an awesome basketball player, go to an awesome basketball school.
 
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In the article previously linked in this thread

Karaban is studying computer science, sports management and statistics.
And he's taking 6 classes this semester. And playing D1 basketball. He has to be smart and well organized to do all this.
 

ctchamps

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And he's taking 6 classes this semester. And playing D1 basketball. He has to be smart and well organized to do all this.
Last public announcement was he had a 3.5 GPA. Thought it was posted somewhere he's on track to complete his education in his third year. Probably the most compelling argument in the discussion about whether Karaban is coming back next season. The mother requirement is very strong for Alex.
 

Huskyforlife

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Last public announcement was he had a 3.5 GPA. Thought it was posted somewhere he's on track to complete his education in his third year. Probably the most compelling argument in the discussion about whether Karaban is coming back next season. The mother requirement is very strong for Alex.
He said he’ll come back and finish later if he decides to leave. Wants to maximize the financial upside of basketball as his first priority, which he claims his parents understand.

But considering he’s probably in the 25-45 range today, he’ll probably come back anyways.
 
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I guess the smart kid has really dumb parents. Someone needs to take them aside and slap them upside the head.
Both are true, stats say on average it is more about where you apply (shows quality of student/aptitude) vs where you go. However if you want to end up a CEO/CFO of a major corporation or say Supreme Court justice then the Ivy league GREATLY influences a higher likelihood of the very top 1% of 1% outcomes.
 
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You're right about alumni/networking from the athletics side too. I went to Law school with a guy on the 1988 Kansas Championship Team. He was very sought after by law firms who knew their clients would be thrilled to be working with him.
Very true, but the person who owned the company hiring the lawyer was probably from an Ivy....that network is hard to beat...maybe only outdone by West Point or Annapolis.
 
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Last public announcement was he had a 3.5 GPA. Thought it was posted somewhere he's on track to complete his education in his third year. Probably the most compelling argument in the discussion about whether Karaban is coming back next season. The mother requirement is very strong for Alex.
You're neglecting his semester RS....so he's been on campus for 5 semesters, technically in his 3rd year..plus summer school classes...My guess is he's probably very close to graduating after this semester.
 

HuskyHawk

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Very true, but the person who owned the company hiring the lawyer was probably from an Ivy....that network is hard to beat...maybe only outdone by West Point or Annapolis.
Sure, especially locally. But it isn't that way everywhere. Being a UT grad matters a lot in Austin. Being a Kansas grad matters a lot in KC. Being a Georgia grad matters a lot in Atlanta. They don't have the local competition UConn does.
 
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Last public announcement was he had a 3.5 GPA. Thought it was posted somewhere he's on track to complete his education in his third year. Probably the most compelling argument in the discussion about whether Karaban is coming back next season. The mother requirement is very strong for Alex.

Athletes can easily graduate in 2.5 years if they want to. I wouldn't be surprised if Alex is doing a Master's next year if the program he wants allows it. They're on campus all summer and UConn has summer classes that are basically made just for athletes to get their gen ed requirements out of the way. My wife taught some for extra $$ that were majority football and basketball players for years.

It's even easier to graduate early with basketball. Football players will take a super easy courseload in the fall during the season. Because basketball season split semesters about evenly, they can't get away with that so much.

I graduated with two degrees in 3 years at a crappy D2 school with barely any summer classes and a bad attitude. Advisors laid out my exact class schedule for underclassmen before I even stepped on campus.
 
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Sure, especially locally. But it isn't that way everywhere. Being a UT grad matters a lot in Austin. Being a Kansas grad matters a lot in KC. Being a Georgia grad matters a lot in Atlanta. They don't have the local competition UConn does.
Kansas City is in Missouri.
 
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There's one in Kansas too. :)

I heard Kansas is working on a Missouri City to get back at Missouri for having the better Kansas City!

This thread is amazing in people bringing their own anecdotal experience + obvious self-interested basketball biases to opine on what is good for the Karabans. Especially given that the whole thing started with the Karaban's knowing damn well what was good for the Karabans, figuring that out and picking UConn. Luckily us experts are here two years later to further help them with their decisions.
 
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Go to the Ivy leagues when you have no legit NBA prospects. Alex made the correct choice. 1 Natty in hand (possibly more), scads of NIL and then professional NBA career
If you can play they will find you and draft you. Santa Clara, Belmont, Furman, Eastern Michigan, Pepperdine all had kids drafted last year. If they can send scouts to the Congo they can send them to Princeton, NJ.
 

HuskyHawk

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Kansas City is in Missouri.
I am aware. The metro spans both states. I worked downtown for a time. The metro area has more KU grads than Mizzou grads.

My point was, you don't need to go to an Ivy to leverage alumni influence as an athlete. However, that is somewhat localized. Applying for a job in Fairfield? Nobody cares that you played basketball for Colorado. But it would help in Denver. In those locations, that influence probably exceeds Ivy influence. Alex will be fine.
 

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